


The Art of Resilience

by Admiral_mustard



Category: Gotham (TV), Joker - Fandom
Genre: Circus, Eventual Smut, F/M, Haly's Circus, M/M, Mental Illness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 20:05:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18676531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Admiral_mustard/pseuds/Admiral_mustard
Summary: Basic AU in which Jeremiah never left the circus. And he's still a little bit of a psycho sometimes. And Jerome. But they love each other nonetheless.





	The Art of Resilience

**Author's Note:**

> I'll try and update this story as soon as I can with new chapters. Maybe every week or every couple of days. But I hope you enjoy this one. Also, I suck at writing so if it's bad, you know why.

The circus was exceptionally hot today. There wasn’t a single soul in site outside any of the tents. All of the tenants were huddled underneath the lunch tent waited for breakfast to be served. And to save themselves from the unbearable heat that was beating down on them.  
Breakfast was simple. Grits with a burnt piece of toast with some butter smeared on top. All the adults sat at the center table, while the children sat at a long picnic table together. Except today there was someone missing. In fact, there were children missing. Nobody could ignore this fact, especially when the two missing peoples could be spotted a mile away with their full heads of bright red hair.  
Now, if it were anybody else that was not at breakfast, nobody would question it. But when you had the two biggest trouble makers absent at the same time, everyone was on high alert.  
Out of the corner of his eye, Owen Lloyd could see a quick flash of red run off and a few giggles that were evident of a child’s. At first, he didn’t question but then a series of firecrackers began going off simultaneously behind him, and he knew who had done it instantly. The noise had frightened him some much he threw his mug of coffee half way across the tent and fell back in his chair, landing with a nice loud thud on his back.  
He could hear a fit of laughs next to him and turned his head to the left to see none other than the Valeska Twins. Jerome was laughing his ass off, as usual, while Jeremiah stood next to him with a worried look on his face.  
“Jerome, maybe we should leave, he looks quite upset.” Jeremiah said to his brother worriedly.  
“Calm down Miah it’s fine. He won’t do anything.”  
“Are you sure, because he’s beginning to walk over here now.”  
“Huh? Oh Shit!” Jerome yelled as he pulled his brother by his arm and began to run away from the tent.  
As they ran, they could hear the ringmaster shouted threats and obscenities at them, but they weren’t really paying attention. Jeremiah was focused on the sound and feel of the wind rushing past his ears. Jerome was mainly focused on how much faster his twin was than him. He didn’t see that one coming. He was also focusing on how beautiful Jeremiah looked right now. They had decided that today they would match their outfits completely, dawning some pair of simple blue jeans, white T-shirts with an unbuttoned shirt over them, and a couple of old, red converses they had stolen from some mall in one of the cities some time ago. Jeremiah usually wore classy outfits, as Jerome liked to call them, so seeing him like this was always fun. And Miah’s hair was all ruffled instead of in its side part like he kept it all the time. And the wind was ruffling it even more, so that was a bonus.  
They had made it to their trailer finally and walked inside. They were panting from the run and laughing together. Jerome took this opportunity to steal a kiss from his brother, something he hadn’t done in a long time. Jeremiah gasped and pulled away quick.  
“J, you can’t just do that. What if somebody sees us?”  
“Let ‘em watch then. Who cares?” he replied  
“No! God Jerome, just ask next time, OK?”  
“Sure. Sorry, didn’t know you would be such a bitch about it.”  
“What did you just call me?” now Jeremiah was angry. That prick.  
Now it was his turn to catch his brother off guard. Jeremiah shoved his brother back hard enough that Jerome stumbled and hit his back on the kitchen table. He pounced back and knocked Jeremiah to the ground, sitting on his chest to keep him in place. Jerome smacked his twin across the face, dazing Jeremiah a bit in the process.  
Jerome always had a tendency to be a bit ruff, so this was nothing new to the brothers, but that still didn’t prepare Jeremiah for the punch Jerome through to his side. All the air had left Jeremiah, leaving him a wheezing mess on the floor. Jerome got up and, of course, began to laugh in his face.  
“God, lifting all those crates really has paid off hasn’t it?” Jeremiah said.  
“Yeah, I guess it has. Hey, maybe you should try it sometime instead of being cooped up in here all day?”  
“I am not “cooped up” inside all day. I went out this morning so you could get yourself into more trouble with Owen. Your welcome by the way.” Jerome was right though, Jeremiah hardly ever leaves the trailer, except for meals and occasionally when Jerome has something planned for them. Jerome was the worker. He spent most of his time working around the circus, mainly with the animals.  
But all that hard work was started to give Jerome a bit more muscle and a deeper tan than his brother. Not that Jeremiah minded all that much, it was a nice site after all, but Jerome was beginning to get the attention of most of the girls in the circus, even some of the older women. Of course, Jeremiah still had the same body shape and muscles as Jerome, but it just looked better on his twin. And more noticeable considering that Jerome walked around half the time shirtless. The bastard.  
“Yeah whatever. I’m going into town later, come with me.” It was more of a demand than a question.  
Jeremiah wasn’t so sure considering the last time they went Jerome had stolen their uncle Zach’s truck to get there and had ended up getting a beaten so severe that he couldn’t get out of bed for three days.  
“I don’t know, what are you planning to do?”  
“I’m not sure, maybe catch a movie, or find a hill to watch the sunset from. But I don’t want to go alone, so come with me.” Jerome made a good point; it did sound like fun.  
“How are you planning on getting there this time because I am not looking forward to putting you on bed rest again.”  
“Relax, the city’s not that far anyway, we can walk there.” Jerome wasn’t going take no for an answer, Jeremiah could see that.  
“Fine, but you’re paying for lunch this time.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was beginning to set, and Jerome had finally found the perfect hill for him and Jeremiah to rest on after today. They had snuck into the nearby theater and had seen some old movie about some guy that had this permanent smile on his face and everyone was afraid of him. Jeremiah had loved it and would not stop talking about the entire time they were looking for the hill.  
They sat down at the top and looked out to the city. They could see the circus and its many colorful lights. Jerome had always loved watching the sunset. It was the one time of the day that he could just sit down and not have to worry about Lila or Owen or anybody else. He could watch them all day.  
Jeremiah lied against Jerome, listening to his breathing and feeling the rise and fall of his chest. This was what Jeremiah looked forward to. Anyone or anything could keep him away from this. And if they tried, he’d kill them before they got the chance.


End file.
